31 Oct 2008

First, the revelation that most Manchester music didn't originate in Manchester at all - it was copied from our Liverpudlian neighbours.

Now it would seem that most Mancunians didn't originate in Manchester at all - they are actually from our neighbour, Salford.

Confused?

All is explained as Manchester-from-Salford's very own ex-soap star Terry Duckworth follows David Nolan's Salford Music Map in this week's edition of BBC Inside Out North West (available to UK residents only for a limited time period).

"Ike Yard is finishing the all new album and talking to a label in Denmark about a quick promo 7" and possibly releasing the album in the first half of 2009. There is also talk about a 12" single.

"Earlier this year, Ike Yard had 'Night After Night' on the LTM Crépuscule auteur labels re-release.

"Finally Stuart says "Fingers crossed, I should have first releases on my new label REC (Rapid Expansion Corporation) before the year's out: new Dominatrix E.P., Dystopians and The Voodooists re-release."

This week Stuart is preparing for a NYC show by his newish group Dystopians on Thursday. He says "They are a kind of harder edged industrial with guest guitarist Norman Westberg (ex-Swans). More info at Monkeytown."

25 Oct 2008

News comes in that New Order drummer Stephen Morris has been collaborating with Liverpool up-and-comers Sex Education on their forthcoming debut LP, which is being produced by Roger Lyons (of the much-missed Lionrock).

Sex Education's Chris Ward explains to Cerysmatic: "When we first started recording a track called 'Regret It All' we wanted live drums on it but didn't have a drummer at the time (we do now!). Roger suggested Steve, who he knows from doing live sound and collaborations with New Order over the years. Steve has kindly done some awesome live drumming on the track, as well as a few extra loops and surprises."

Check Sex Education out here. The band also have live dates coming up including Night & Day in Manchester on 28 October, and a free show at Korova in Liverpool 3 November.

The house where the Ryder brothers grew up, the schools attended by Peter Hook, Bernard Sumner, Terry Mason and Tony Wilson and Morrissey's favourite club are just some of the locations on the first ever Salford Music Map which launches today.

The aim of the new map is to reclaim some legendary 'Manchester' music myths that rightly belong to its sister city, while helping promote Salford as a destination with a rich musical heritage.

The map, which is the brainchild of Salford City Council, and researched by music author, TV producer, Salford University lecturer, David Nolan, will be available for free from visitsalford.info and from a number of locations across the city including The Kings Arms in Bloom Street, The Lowry, Salford Lads Club, Islington Mill and Salford University.

Cerysmatic Factory was fortunate enough a couple of weeks ago to get a sneak preview of the map with a special tour of (mostly) FAC-related Salford sites with David Nolan. The results are documented in a short film which is available on Google Video.

A giant 3D version of the Map will also be on show at the Quiffs, Riffs and Tiffs exhibition at the Salford Museum and Art Gallery.

David Nolan said "The Map will bring Salford's music stories to life. Some stories you may know and some you may think you know... others you'll never have heard before. There's punk and folk there alongside heavy rock and pop. Now you'll be able to see exactly where all this great music came from, not only that it'll look great on your wall too."

Cllr Barry Warner, Salford City Council's lead member for culture and sport said "We have a wealth of musical heritage and the Salford Music Map is about bringing it all together and showcasing Salford as the musical and creative city it is, making it easy for residents to explore alongside music fans from across the UK and even abroad.

"There are iconic landmarks such as Salford Lads Club that The Smiths made famous and lesser known creative hubs like Islington Mill which helped launch the Ting Tings. We've attempted to capture as many of these as we can.

"We've no doubt that this map will help promote Salford as a destination with a musical history and an exciting future, building on the success of music events such as Proms in the Park and Sounds from the Other City, which brings Chapel Street to life each May with live music."

18 Oct 2008

Sculptor Michele Rashman, wife of ex-Simply Red and Happy Mondays manager Elliot, is "relieved" that her sculpture of Shaun Ryder as 'talented dog' failed to attract a buyer at last weekend's inaugural Buy Art Fair held at Urbis in Manchester.

"I'm glad it didn't sell because I'd like to tour it round the country a bit first".

Greg Wilson has a pedigree stretching back to the original disco era. He first came to national prominence in the early 1980s as the first to champion New York's emerging Electro-Funk sound and he was the first DJ to mix records on national TV and in 1983, Greg became the first dance music DJ to become resident at Manchester's legendary Haçienda, then very much an indie and 'alternative' music venue.

Fast forward to 2008 and Greg is back with full force, turning in remixes for DFA, Rong Music as well as a sublime mix CD for 20:20 vision and the latest podcast for the influential Resident Advisor.

Armed with a laptop, turntables and, of course, his trusty Revox B77 reel-to-reel, Greg brings his alchemical mixing and customized re-edits to NYC to play Prime Time at Santos Party House on Saturday October 25th

Farrow explains: "We designed this poster to celebrate the 15th birthday of the Hacienda. We had no idea at the time that it would be the club's last. The code 51 15 25 05 97 (Fac 51 is 15 on 25 05 97) was printed in a reflective ink onto a grey background which rendered it almost invisible in daylight. The poster only came to life at night under the glare of car headlights. Our reasoning being that the message was only important to people who were out after dark."

Pre-Orders are being taken now. Go here for more details and photos. An additional set of full-size photos are here on Flickr.

14 Oct 2008

Tim Booth reveals that James never should have left Factory Records in a revealing interview in Filter: "Back then we thought they were the big record company. It wasn’t till we got to Sire that we realized what a big record company actually is." (Recent James album Hey Ma is dedicated to the late Tony Wilson.)

Booth and bandmate Jim Glennie describe the working relationship with Brian Eno ("We’re the luckiest band in the world"), namecheck some personal favorite James tracks, and travel down memory lane for past (and not so past) music connections.

The private view for Peter Saville's exhibition of other people's creations being exhibited on his new flat-pack plinths, Accessories to an artwork took place on Thursday 9 October at the new Paul Stolper Gallery (itself resplendent with its new Peter Saville-designed street sign).

Peter Saville was there to launch the initial prototype edition of 200 plinths. They are, according to Saville being snapped up quickly not only by individuals with fifty quid to spare and nowhere to put their telephones but also by museums and galleries. A mass-produced run seems inevitable.

Plinths aside the exhibited works range from the esoteric to the conceptual via outrageously funny. Jeremy Deller's homage to Fantin-Latour's bowl of flowers and hence the cover of Power, Corruption and Lies is matched by Todd Eberle's more obvious placing of the record itself. Robert Longo, artist and director of the video for Bizarre Love Triangle, offers us mini-mushroom cloud. Brian Eno's light flowers are just Eno being Eno. Jarvis Cocker's cut out trees are oddly beautiful. Another plinth is left empty and the burnt ashes of part of another are tastefully sprinkled atop it. An unfeasibly large sexual toy is eye-wateringly amusing. However, the best is saved til last though with Sarah Morris and Liam Gillick's "plinth on plinth", a loving homage to Rachel Whiteread.

Amongst those enjoying also the show were Ben Kelly, Kevin Cummins and the actress Tamsin Greig (Green Wing). Hi to Iain & Bunny, Andy and Mark.

A late start time allowed the Cerysmatic team a pleasurable meal in nearby Trof (with thanks to Ashiya for the recommendation). The Ruby Lounge, on the fringe of the Northern Quarter, is a plush but cosy club-cum-venue.

Around 10ish Vini shuffled on stage alone and unannounced. He thanked the audience for coming to listen and warned us, oh yes, that it would start quiet and get louder. In traditional fashion he began with a solo guitar instrumental, 'Gun' (or a variant thereof).

Vini then brought Poppy Morgan on stage to play the Rhodes piano. In his introduction Vini explained how great it was for him to be able to play guitar to Poppy's piano and "hijack" her tunes. They played 3 pieces including Ananda from this year's Sunlight to Blue... Blue To Blackness (Kooky). This was the clear highlight of the evening.

Thereafter with Poppy leaving the stage to great applause the gig continued in more conventional style. There were some entertaining extended workouts of old favourites but there were few surprises and there was no encore (despite it being the 30th Anniversary show and Alex the Red's manful efforts at the end to get them back on stage).

10 Oct 2008

In Comfort And Joy, Artforum's Michael Wilson tracks a steady gaze on Peter Saville's NYC Estate 1-127 launch party at Burberry, his later interview at White Columns, and those Saville-designed flat-pack museum plinths; all the while struggling not to call it bullshit.

7 Oct 2008

Following up on last week's "Nearly New Order" series of interviews (Day 1: Bernard Sumner, Day 2: Stephen Morris & Gillian Gilbert, Day 3: Peter Hook) that aired on Mark Radcliffe & Stuart Maconie's BBC 2 radio show, what did we learn?

6 Oct 2008

As Dig Out Your Soul hits the physical and digital racks of the nation's record shops what better time to check out #2 in the 20 Greatest Oasis Tracks as chosen by Peter Hook as told to Q Magazine (#267, October 2008):

"Roll With It is rocky, and it plays down the Beatles influence. A lot of Oasis's overtly Beatles-influenced songs piss me off because they're just a rip-off. Roll With It is a balls-in-your-hands, cock-in-the-air song. It's what I thought could have been their true sound if they'd ever got past their Beatles fixation. Oasis actually played an early gig with Revenge at a place called the Middleton Hippodrome in Manchester. It was their first gig they had with Noel on guitar under the name Oasis, because they were called Rain before that. What did I think of them? I thought they were a bunch of cunts. It wasn't an amazing triumph, but I quite like having it on my CV."

3 Oct 2008

Peter Saville's at it again, and this time you create ("curate") the artwork. As hinted at earlier in the year, Saville has indeed created the "Flat-Pack Plinth". 10 October 2008 sees the opening of "Accessories to an artwork" at the Paul Stolper gallery in London, running until 22 November. From the press release (you just can't make these things up): "Peter’s ‘flat-pack’ plinth recognizes the public’s own ability, and transfers to them the power of curatorial decision, allowing anyone now to pass judgment on what is worth looking at. It acknowledges a changing audience, and their will to consume art. The flat-pack plinth is their DIY accessory in a time when culture has briefly stopped to let millions of people on board. The flat-pack plinth has a direct correspondence with Peter’s observation that ‘it all looks like art to me now’."

Made of white centred display board, and in a prototype edition of 200, the plinth measures 96cmx35cmx35cm and replicates those conventionally made from wood. He has invited 22 others to place anything of their choice on a plinth. (Including Peter Blake, Jarvis Cocker, Brian Eno, Robert Longo, Wolfgang Tillmans, and Gavin Turk.)

The first 100 will be sold at a price of £50 (+vat). (Limit 5 to a customer.)

Perfect for the artistic bronze frog lover in your life.

Get your cardboard boxes here. (Includes a lovely picture of said plinth.)

As part of a tribute on Sunday 5 October to In The City founder and Factory Records head Tony Wilson, singer/songwriter Karl Eland and new Preston band, Stephen Buckley and the Feverdreamers join 22 other artists at the 24 Busk for Tony outside M19 Bar, Stockport Road, Levenshulme.

'1 Top Class Manager', the collection of Rob Gretton's working notebooks kept during his time as Joy Division's manager, has its release date pushed back one week (er, back to its original date) to October 14, 2008, due to "a machinery failure at the printers."

In the grey days of late 1970s post-punk Manchester, youth culture was a serious affair: every musical performance was measured mostly by the conviction of its delivery. The term 'New Wave' opened up free vistas where acquired skills could once again be exercised after punk's monochrome blur. It could be applied to anything from a James 'Blood' Ulmer record to the latest Throbbing Gristle release, Magazine to Swell Maps. Move outside that terrain into Sun Ra, Parliament, Frank Sinatra and Martin Denny, and your options were suddenly without limit...

Then came Tony Wilson's Factory Club (at the Russell Club in Hulme) offering an open invitation to experiment that was taken up when Ken Hollings, Howard Walmsley, Eddie Sherwood and a few others decided to make some noise to accompany their 16mm silent epic Biting Tongues. A further performance followed a few weeks later, when Colin Seddon and Graham Massey disbanded their Post Natals project and joined up. The film itself, a flashing series of negative images, became a memory; the name remained.